Clip attaching seat of vehicular interior molded product

ABSTRACT

In a clip attaching seat  1  integrally provided to a vehicular interior molded product and attached with a clip having a locking head portion of a bulged shape above a neck portion, on a face of a seating portion  11  in a plate-like shape formed with a clip locking hole  12 , ribs ( 14  through  16 ) having widths the same as a plate thickness thereof are formed. Thereby, a rigidity of the thin-walled seating portion  11  is ensured while making a wall thickness of a total of the clip attaching seat  1  constant.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Related Art

The present invention relates to a clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product.

2. Description of the Related Art

Vehicular interior molded products of a center console, an instrument panel and the like are fixed to various panels constituting a vehicle body of an automobile by using a clip made of a resin. In such a case, a rear side of the vehicular interior molded product is integrally molded with a clip attaching seat for attaching the clip.

FIG. 10 shows a perspective structure of a general clip attaching seat. The clip attaching seat is constituted to include a seating portion 50 in a plate-like shape provided at a top portion of a peripheral wall 51 erected from a rear face of an interior molded product and to be formed with a clip locking hole 52 and a guide groove 53 at the seating portion 50. The clip attaching seat is attached with a clip 60 in a mode shown in FIG. 11. That is, the clip 60 is constituted to be formed with flanges 62 and 63 in a shape of a circular plate respectively on upper and lower sides of a neck portion 61 and to include a locking head portion 64 in a bulged shape provided on an upper side thereof. Further, the clip 60 is attached to the clip attaching seat by a mode of fitting the neck portion 61 to the clip locking hole 52 by way of the guide groove 53 and interposing the seating portion 50 by the flanges 62 and 63 on upper and lower sides of the neck portion 61. Incidentally, the vehicular interior molded product is fixed to a panel on the vehicle body side by fitting the locking head portion 64 of the clip 60 attached to the clip attaching seat in this way to a locking hole formed at the panel.

In a background art, there is known such a clip attaching seat described in, for example, Patent References 1 and 2. According to the clip attaching seat described in Patent Reference 1, by providing ribs for preventing detachment at both side portions of an opening end of a guide groove and providing a rib for preventing rattle in a circular arc shape at a position remote from an outer edge of a clip locking hole by a constant distance, detachment or rattle of the clip is restrained. Further, according to the clip attaching seat described in Patent Reference 2, by making an upper face of an end portion on a side of inserting the clip by an inclined face, mountability of the clip is promoted.

Patent Reference 1: JP-A-11-189105

Patent Reference 2: JP-A-2000-192918

Meanwhile, in recent years, by a request for light-weighted formation of a total of a vehicle, also with regard to a vehicular interior molded product, it is also desired to make a vehicular interior molded product totally thin-walled. At this occasion, when a clip attaching seat is also thin-walled, a rigidity of a seating portion is reduced, and a strength of attaching a clip becomes deficient. Hence, the attaching strength is ensured by making a wall thickness of the seating portion of the clip attaching seat thicker than that of other portion, however, in that case, a moldability is deteriorated by bringing about a difference between cooling time periods of a resin in molding of the seating portion and other portion by a difference of the wall thicknesses. Further, the deterioration of the moldability particularly poses a problem in a large-sized interior molded product having a projecting area equal to or larger than 400 square centimeters or more.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been carried out in view of such an actual situation and it is an object thereof to provide a clip attaching seat capable of preferably carrying out thin-walled formation of a vehicular interior molded product while ensuring a strength of attaching a clip.

A first aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof by a clip attaching seat attached with a clip integrally provided to a vehicular interior molded product and having a locking head portion in a bulged shape on a neck portion, wherein on a face of a seating portion in a plate-like shape formed with a clip locking hole for locking the neck portion of the clip, a rib having a width the same as a plate thickness thereof is formed.

According to the above-described constitution, a rigidity of the attaching seat is ensured by forming the rib at the upper face of the seating portion and even when the plate thickness of the seating portion per se is thin, the strength of attaching the clip can be ensured. Further, the width of the rib formed at the seating portion is made to be the same as the plate thickness of the seating portion and a wall thickness of a total of the attaching seat is made to be constant. Therefore, thin-walled formation of the interior molded product can preferably be carried out while ensuring the strength of attaching the clip.

A second aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof in the clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product, the rib is formed on a side of an upper face of the seating portion, and as the rib, an inner peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole, an outer peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of an upper face of the seating portion, and a further plurality of ribs formed to connect the inner peripheral rib and the outer peripheral rib are provided.

A third aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof in the clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product, the seating portion is provided at a top portion of a peripheral wall erected from a rear side of the vehicular interior molded product, the rib is formed on a side of a lower face of the seating portion, and as the rib, an inner peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole, and a further plurality of ribs formed to connect the inner peripheral rib and the peripheral wall are provided.

A fourth aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof in the clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product, the further plurality of ribs are formed in a radial shape centering on the clip locking hole.

In the respectives of a case of constituting the face of forming the rib by the upper face side of the seating portion and a case of constituting the face of forming the rib by the lower face side, by forming the rib, the rigidity of the seating portion can effectively be promoted. Further, in such a case, it is preferable in view of promoting the rigidity of the seating portion to form the further plurality of ribs for connecting the inner peripheral rib and the outer peripheral rib or the peripheral wall in the radial shape centering on the clip locking hole.

A fifth aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof in the clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product, the seating portion is formed with a guide groove for guiding the neck portion of the clip to the clip locking hole, and an end portion disposed at a face of forming the rib of the seating portion and on a side of an opening end of the guide groove is made to constitute an inclined face inclined to be proximate to an upper face of the rib as proceeding to the side of the opening end of the guide groove.

According to the constitution, the clip can be facilitated to mount by constituting a clip inserting side of the seating portion by a taper shape while making the wall thickness of a total of the clip attaching seat constant.

According to the clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product of the invention, thin-walled formation of a vehicular interior molded product can preferably be carried out while ensuring the strength of attaching the clip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of a pillar garnish constituting an object of application with regard to a first embodiment of a clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of a top portion of the clip attaching seat of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a sectional structure of the clip attaching seat in a state of being attached with a clip with regard to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of a top portion of a second embodiment of a clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product of the invention.

FIG. 5 (a) is a sectional view showing a sectional structure taken along a line A-A of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 (b) is a sectional view showing a sectional structure taken along a line B-B of FIG. 4, respectively with regard to the clip attaching seat of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of other embodiment of the invention in which a position of inserting a clip is changed.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of other embodiment of the invention in which a rib forming face is changed viewed from a rear side thereof.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of other embodiment of the invention constituting an object of attaching by a clip having a different shape.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a sectional structure of a clip attaching seat in a state of attaching the clip with regard to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of a clip attaching seat of a general vehicular interior molded product of a background art.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a sectional structure of a state of attaching a clip with regard to the clip attaching seat of the general vehicular interior molded product of the background art of the same.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

A first embodiment specifying a clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product of the invention will be explained in reference to FIG. 1 through. FIG. 3 as follows.

According to the embodiment, the invention is applied to a pillar garnish of a vehicle as shown by FIG. 1. The pillar garnish shown in the drawing is integrally formed with a plurality (three in the drawing) of clip attaching seats 1 on a rear side thereof.

Further, the pillar garnish is formed by a resin material of an elastic modulus of bending at 23° C. of 2500 MPa through 3300 MPa (further preferably, 2800 MPa through 3000 MPa), a measured value by Izod test at 23° C. of 60 J/m through 260 J/m and a melt mass flow rate (MFR) at 230° C. of 30 g/10 min through 60 g/min (further preferably, 40 g/10 min through 50 g/10 min) as a physical property of the material. As the resin material, for example, a material whose major component is constituted by block polypropylene (block PP), which is added with pertinent weight % of rubber (SEBS, EP, EBM) and talc is preferable. Examples of the blend materials and blend rates thereof are respectively shown in Table 1 and Table 2. Here, as talc, mixed talc of an average particle size of 4 through 5 μm mixed with talc of a particle size of 1 μm and talc of a particle size of 4 through 5 μm is adopted.

TABLE 1 blend material blend rate (weight %) block PP (MFR 100) 44-67 SEBS  5-20 EP EBM talc (average particle size 4-5 μm) 28-36

TABLE 2 blend material blend rate (weight %) block PP (MFR 100) 39-62 homo PP  5-15 SEBS  5-20 EP EBM talc (particle size 28-36 4-5 μm)

FIG. 2 shows a perspective structure of the clip attaching seat 1 provided at the pillar garnish. Further, FIG. 3 shows a sectional structure of the clip attaching seat 1 in a state of being attached with a clip.

A clip 20 attached to the clip attaching seat 1 is a resin species integral molded product having a flexibility, as shown by FIG. 3, respectively formed with an upper flange 22 and a lower flange 23 in a shape of a circular plate on upper and lower sides of a neck portion 21 and includes a locking head portion 24 in a bulged shape provided thereabove. Further, by attaching the clip 20 to the clip attaching seat and fitting the locking head portion 24 to a locking hole formed at a vehicle body panel, a center console is fixed to a vehicle body.

As shown by the drawings, the clip attaching seat 1 is constructed by a constitution including a seating portion 11 in a plate-like shape on which the clip is seated at a top portion of a peripheral wall 10 a portion of which is opened. Further, the peripheral wall 10 is erected from a rear face of a vehicular interior molded product.

The seating portion 11 is formed with a clip locking hole 12 substantially in a circular shape for locking the neck portion 21 of the clip 20, and a guide groove 13 for guiding the neck portion 21 of the clip 20 to the clip locking hole 12. Further, the neck portion 21 of the clip 20 is inserted to the clip locking hole 12 by way of the guide groove 13. Further, the clip locking hole 12 is formed by a diameter larger than that of the neck portion 21 of the clip 20 locked thereby and a width of the guide groove 13 is formed to be more or less smaller than the diameter of the neck portion 21 of the clip 20.

Now, the pillar garnish provided with the clip attaching seat 1 of the embodiment is totally thin-walled for light-weighted formation, and also a plate thickness of the seating portion 11 of the clip attaching seat is thinned. Here, a wall thickness of a total of the center console is made to be, for example, “1 mm”. In such a case, a rigidity of a clip attaching seat face (seating portion 11) is low as it is and a strength of attaching the clip 20 cannot sufficiently be ensured. Hence, according to the embodiment, in order to compensate for the rigidity of the clip attaching seat face which becomes deficient by the thin-walled formation of the seating portion 11, ribs are formed at an upper face of the seating portion 11.

According to the clip attaching seat 1 of the embodiment, as ribs for the reinforcement, an inner peripheral rib 14 formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole 12 and both sides of the guide groove 13, an outer peripheral rib 15 formed along an outer edge of the upper face of the seating portion 11, and four linear ribs 16 formed to connect the inner peripheral rib 14 and the outer peripheral rib 15 are included. Further, the linear ribs 16 are formed in a radial shape centering on the clip locking hole 12 at the upper face of the seating portion 11.

All of the inner peripheral rib 14, the peripheral rib 15 and the respective linear ribs 16 are formed by a width the same as a plate thickness of the seating portion 11. Therefore, a wall thickness of a total of the clip attaching seat 1 becomes constant.

Further, according to the clip attaching seat 1, on a side of an opening end of the guide groove 13, upper faces of the inner peripheral rib 14 and the outer peripheral rib 15 are constituted by inclined faces inclined such that the more proximate to the opening end of the guide groove 13, the more lowered the inclined faces. Thereby, the inclined faces are provided to facilitate to insert the clip 20 to the guide groove 13 by constituting a side of inserting the clip 20 by a taper shape.

As shown by FIG. 3, the clip 20 is attached to the clip attaching seat 1 by a mode of fitting the neck portion 21 to the clip locking hole 12 and interposing the seating portion 11 formed with the respective ribs (14 through 16) between the upper flange 22 and the lower flange 23. At this occasion, the upper flange 22 is brought into contact with upper faces of the respective ribs (14 through 16) formed at the upper face of the seating portion 11 and the lower flange 23 is brought into contact with a lower face of the seating portion 11.

Further, according to the clip attaching seat 1 of the vehicular interior molded product of the embodiment, the four linear ribs 16 are constructed by a constitution in correspondence with the “further plurality of ribs”.

According to the clip attaching seat 1 of the vehicular interior molded product of the embodiment explained above, the following advantages can be achieved.

(1) According to the embodiment, the rigidity of the attaching seat is ensured by forming the ribs (14 through 16) at the upper face of the seating portion 11 and even when the plate thickness of the seating portion 11 is thin, a strength of attaching the clip 20 can be ensured. Further, the width of the respective ribs (14 through 16) is made to be the same as the plate thickness of the seating portion 11 and the wall thickness of the total of the attaching seat becomes constant. Therefore, thin-walled formation of the vehicular interior molded product can preferably be carried out while ensuring the strength of attaching the clip. (2) According to the embodiment, as the ribs formed on the side of the upper face of the seating portion 11, the inner peripheral rib 14 formed along the outer edge of the clip locking hole 12, the outer peripheral rib 15 formed along the outer edge of the upper face of the seating portion 11, and the plurality of linear ribs 16 formed to connect the inner peripheral rib 14 and the outer peripheral ribs 15 are provided. Therefore, the rigidity of the thin-walled seating portion 11 can effectively be promoted. (3) According to the embodiment, on the side of the opening end of the guide groove 13, the upper faces of the inner peripheral rib 14 and the outer peripheral rib 15 are constituted by the inclined faces inclined such that the more proximate to the opening end of the guide groove 13, the more lowered the inclined faces. Therefore, mounting of the clip 20 can be facilitated. (4) According to the embodiment, as the molding material of the pillar garnish provided with the clip attaching seat 1, the resin material having the physical properties of the material of the elastic modulus of bending at 23 C.° of 2500 MPa through 3300 MPa (further preferably, 2600 MPa through 3000 MPa) and the measured value of the Izod test at 23 C.° of 60 J/m through 260 J/m is adopted. By adopting the material, even when the wall thickness is thinned to about 1.0 mm, the strength, the rigidity, the durability needed for the pillar garnish can preferably be ensured. (5) According to the embodiment, as the molding material of the pillar garnish provided with clip attaching seat 1, the resin material of the melt mass flow rate (MRF) at 230° C.° of 40 g/10 min through 50 g/10 min is adopted. Thereby, a fluidity of the resin material in molding is promoted, and even when the wall thickness is thinned to about 1.0 mm, drawbacks in accordance with thin-walled formation of an increase in a time period required for molding the resin and an increase in a failure rate of a molded product can be avoided. Further, the drawbacks in accordance with the thin-walled formation pose a significant problem in a large-sized molded interior product in which a surface area exceeds 400 square centimeters and a flow length and a flow area of the resin material in molding are large. (6) According to the embodiment, as talc blended to the resin material, mixed talc of the average particle size of 4 through 5 μm mixed with talc of the particle size of 1 μm and talc of the particle size of 4 through 5 μm is adopted. By adopting the mixed talc, the elastic modulus of bending of the molded product and the measured value by the Izod test can be promoted. Further, although talc having the small particle size is preferably used for promoting the elastic modulus of bending and the measured value of the Izod test, talc of the small particle size becomes expensive In this respect, according to the embodiment, by adopting the mixture of two kinds of talc having different particle sizes as described above, necessary physical properties of the material are ensured while restraining an increase in cost.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment of specifying the clip attaching seat of the vehicular interior molded product of the invention will be explained in reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. Further, in the embodiment, constitutions common to those of the first embodiment are attached with the same notations and the detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective structure of a clip attaching seat of the embodiment. Further, FIG. 5 (a) shows a sectional structure of the clip attaching seat taken along a line A-A of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5( b) shows a sectional structure of the clip attaching seat taken along a line B-B of FIG. 4, respectively.

As shown by the drawings, also in the clip attaching seat of the embodiment, a constitution of providing the seating portion 11 in the plate-like shape formed with the clip locking hole 12 and the guide groove 13 at the top portion of the peripheral wall 10 is constructed. Further, the upper face of the seating portion 11 is formed with the ribs (14 through 16) of the widths the same as the plate thickness. Therefore, also in the embodiment, the rigidity of the attaching seat is ensured by forming the ribs (14 through 16) of the widths the same as the plate thickness at the upper face of the seating portion 11, thin-walled formation of an interior molded product can preferably be carried out while ensuring the strength of attaching the clip.

On the other hand, according to the embodiment, at the face (upper face) of forming the ribs (14 through 16) of the seating portion 11, an end portion. 11 a on a side of the opening end of the guide groove 13 is constituted by an inclined face inclined such that the more proximate to the side of the opening end of the guide groove 13, the more proximate to the upper faces of the ribs (14 through 16). Here, by forming the end portion 11 a on the side of the opening end of the guide groove 13 of the seating portion 11 in this way, the side of inserting the clip 20 is constituted by the taper shape to facilitate to insert the clip 20 to the guide groove 13. Therefore, the clip inserting side of the seating portion 11 is made to be able to be formed in the taper shape while making the wall thickness of the total of the clip attaching seat constant.

Other Embodiment

The respective embodiments explained above can also be modified as follows.

Although according to the respective embodiments, the clip 20 is inserted from the opening side of the peripheral wall 10 to be attached, as shown by FIG. 6, when the groove 30 capable of passing the lower flange 23 of the clip 20 is formed at the peripheral wall 10 continuously to the guide groove 13, the clip 20 can be inserted to be attached from other than the opening side of the peripheral wall 10.

Although according to the above-described respective embodiments, the ribs (14 through 16) for reinforcement are formed on the upper end side of the seating portion 11, the ribs may be formed on the lower face side as shown by, for example, FIG. 7. In such a case, as shown by the drawing, as ribs formed on the lower face side of the seating portion 11, by providing an inner peripheral rib 31 formed along the outer edge of the clip locking hole 12, and a plurality of linear ribs 32 formed to connect the inner peripheral rib 31 and the peripheral wall 10, the rigidity of the thin-walled seating portion 11 can effectively be promoted.

Although according to the respective embodiments, an explanation has been given of the clip attaching seat constituting an object of attaching by the clip 20 respectively provided with the upper flange 22 and the lower flange 23 on upper and lower sides of the neck portion 21, the invention is applicable also to the attaching seat of a clip having a shape different therefrom. That is, the clip attaching seat 20 of the vehicular interior molded product of the invention can be embodied by a mode similar to those of the respective embodiments, or correspondingly applied thereto so far as a clip having a neck portion locked by a clip locking hole of the attaching seat and having a locking head portion of a bulged shape above the neck portion constitutes an object of attaching. For example, a clip attaching seat shown in FIG. 8 is attached with a clip 33 shown in FIG. 9. The clip 33 includes a locking head portion 35 in a bulged shape provided at an upper portion of a flange 34, and a leg portion 36 substantially in a rhombic shape formed on a lower side of the flange 34. Further, according to the clip 33, a root portion of the leg portion 36 relative to the flange 34 constitutes a head portion 37 locked by a clip locking hole 40. On the other hand, the clip attaching seat attached with the clip 33 is formed with a clip attaching hole 40 in a rectangular shape at a seating portion 39 provided at a top portion of a peripheral wall 38. The clip 33 is attached to the clip attaching seat by inserting the leg portion 36 to the clip locking hole 40. Also in the case of the clip attaching seat constituting an object of attaching by the clip 33, the rigidity of the thin-walled seating portion 39 can effectively be promoted by forming ribs for reinforcement on the face of the seating portion 39. For example, according to the clip attaching seat shown in FIG. 8, an inner peripheral rib 41 formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole 40, an outer peripheral rib 42 formed along an outer edge of the upper face of the seating portion 39, and a plurality of linear ribs 43 formed to connect the inner peripheral rib 41 and the outer peripheral rib 42 are provided at the upper face of the seating portion 39.

The mode of forming the ribs above the face of the seating portion can pertinently be changed. In sum, when on a face of a seating portion in plate-like shape formed with a clip locking hole for locking a neck portion of a clip, ribs for reinforcement having widths the same as a plate thickness thereof are formed, a rigidity of a thin-walled seating portion can be promoted while making a wall thickness of a total of the clip attaching seat constant.

Although according to the respective embodiment, an explanation has been given of the case of applying the invention to the clip attaching seat provided at the pillar garnish, the invention is similarly applicable also to a large-sized interior molded product such as, for example, a center console or an instrumental panel. The invention is particularly preferably applied to a large-sized interior molded product having a surface area equal to or larger than 400 square centimeters in which the problem of deteriorating the moldability becomes significant. 

1. A clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product to which a clip integrally provided to a vehicular interior molded product and including a neck portion and a locking head portion formed in a bulged shape is attached, the clip attaching seat comprising: a seating portion in a plate-like shape, having; a clip locking hole locking the neck portion of the clip; and a rib provided on a surface of the seating portion and having a width the same as a plate thickness of the seating portion.
 2. The clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product according to claim 1, wherein: the rib is formed on an upper face of the seating portion, the rib is comprised of an inner peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole, an outer peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of an upper face of the seating portion, and a plurality of ribs formed to connect the inner peripheral rib and the outer peripheral rib are provided.
 3. The clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product according to claim 1, wherein: the seating portion is provided at a top portion of a peripheral wall erected from a rear side of the vehicular interior molded product; the rib is formed on a side of a lower face of the seating portion, and the rib is comprised of an inner peripheral rib formed along an outer edge of the clip locking hole, and a further plurality of ribs formed to connect the inner peripheral rib and the peripheral wall are provided.
 4. The clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of ribs are formed in a radial shape centering on the clip locking hole.
 5. The clip attaching seat of a vehicular interior molded product according to claim 1, wherein: the seating portion is formed with a guide groove for guiding the neck portion of the clip to the clip locking hole; and an end portion disposed at a face of forming the rib of the seating portion and on a side of an opening end of the guide groove is made to constitute an inclined face inclined to be proximate to an upper face of the rib as proceeding to the side of the opening end of the guide groove. 